Fabulous Fino Fun

So I rented a Yamaha Fino for 3 days. The first day I went with several others out to the country side to ride. K rode on the back with me. It was a beautiful day and the drive was awesome. Yesterday I went with A (who owns a Fino) for a night on the town. We weaved through traffic from one place to the next, safely of course. It was a great night!

Today was the highlight. In the afternoon I found the campus area of CM University. It's alongside a mountain on the west side of CM. I drove all around and up into the mountain a bit. It was awesome! I discovered that the rush I get from riding is similar to the rush I get from skiing. I love swishing down the hill on skis and taking a corner just fast enough to throw some snow up. I get that same feeling when zipping around curves on the bike, especially on hills. I had to return the bike this evening. I don't know how I'm going to go back to Bkk and walk. Should I get a Fino to drive around in Bkk?

Chiang Mai Half Marathon

I sure was nervous. I stayed in a different place the 5 nights before the race which meant only half quality sleep. I was really careful not to drink alcohol which was difficult especially when we were camping. Then the night before the race I had some pizza. The cheese did not sit well in my tummy. It was rumbling throughout the night and I was sure it would come back up. At 11pm K gave me some chinese meds that helped. But I still didn't sleep well. 4:20am came around quick. The race started at 5am. My tummy was still not quite right so K gave me some more chinese meds. By the time I started running I felt better. In fact, I was surprised at my pace. I chose a person with a good pace to follow and then eventually passed him. I was able to keep a good pace the whole time and finished the 13 miles in 2:00:42!!! I was thrilled with that! K finished her 10k in 54 minutes, best pace she's ever had. The race was a huge success!

We went to the English mtg here in CM at 11:30 (strange time). K and I were both feeling sick. I think I had a fever and my tummy was rumbling again. So after the meeting I took an ibuprofen and got a massage. I was able to sleep some during the massage and felt 100% better afterwards.

Then last night we went to my favorite market in all of SE Asia, the Sunday night walking market. So much fun!!!

Today we're going to rent scooters and driver around CM and maybe outside the city a bit. Tonight the other girls head back to Bkk and I'll hang out a few more days with G and A.

When I get home Friday I'll post the pictures from our trip up north. It was such a great time and so beautiful! I'll write about it later too.

"Trail Running" in the city

I love trail running! Following a curvy path, dodging stumps in the ground, up and down hill. And of course there's nothing like being out in nature! Well, I have found the equivelant here in the middle of the city...kinda. I went to Lumpini Park for my weekly long run. K and C were coming too. On the way I noticed traffic was really backed up around the park. Once I got to the entrance I discovered why, there was a "Street Show" going on. There were people EVERYWHERE. But I thought maybe the path around would be clear. That's where the "trail running" comes in. I had a curvy path to follow, around little shows in the middle of the street. I had to dodge people watching the shows and walking around. I had to go up and down the sidewalk and into the grass to avoid people. One thing I really like about trail running is how it works different muscles because there's more terrain. I had a similar feeling with this. It was also entertaining to have so much to look at. Next week is the half-marathon. I'm ready for it!

Tonight I leave on the night train to Chiang Mai. I'll get there tomorrow around 1pm. Wednesday we leave to go camping in Mae Hong Son. I'm really excited to go, there's some great hiking there and lots of small villages. We get back Saturday and that afternoon I'll meet up with the others for the race Sunday. Next Monday we're all supposed to go on a hiking trip outside CM. I've done the hike twice before and it was really amazing. Then Tuesday and Wednesday I have plans to work in service with a sister learning sign in CM. I'll head back to Bkk either Thursday or Friday. I promise to get lots of photos!

Long Days

I'm tired! Fortunately I'm now on my winter break from school. Yipee! I pulled some long days last week between school finishing (parent/teacher conferences and concert prep) and Bible studies.

It seems funny to have parent/teacher conferences for a 2 year old. But my week was packed with them. The biggest dilemma was how to get one kid off his pacifier. And of course the topic of potty training came up. Sigh. But all went well and I survived the week. Friday was the concert. In dealing with 2 year old kids the expectations aren't so high. They did a little dance to "I'm A Friendly Snowman". It's a song to the tune of "I'm A Little Tea Pot" (I have to get a little creative since I won't teach a Christmas song). I dressed the kids as little snowmen, they were really cute! Which is actually the most important part of the concert since we don't expect them to actually perform, just so they look cute (sorry, no pics).

So this week should be great! It started out well, we went to the Giants vs Cowboys game at the pub this morning. Too bad the Giants lost. But we got some in-house entertainment by a drunk guy vomiting in the booth he was sitting in. Stupid guy, it was 9am. He looked really bad. The only person to go near him was a waitress, an older Thai lady who scolded him while making him clean up. I bet he was wondering where all the young Thai ladies went off to. By the end of the game he was a bit better, swaying back and forth seemed to help him.

The rest of the day is my own. I think I'll go get a smoothie and read in the park.

A Finnish Brother Using Thai Sign

So we had a special meeting yesterday. There's a couple from Finland here for 5 weeks. They work in the sign-language department at the Finnish Branch and were sent here to help organize things. He gave the talk yesterday in sign and then we had our own WT study. We've had our own meeting twice before and it's always a great turn out. Yesterday was awesome! We had at least 20 deaf, and out of the 20 there were 4 or 5 who had come for the first time. The brother's parents are deaf so his sign-language is excellent. He did a great job at changing the signs to Thai sign and everyone was really into it!

One neat thing about some of the Bible students is how much they preach. One young girl has had 4 of her friends come to the meeting before and 3 of them are now studying. There are some girls from a local university who started studying. It started out with 1 girl. Then she invited her friends and her friends invited friends. There are now 8 girls studying and a few that have just come to the meeting but not yet studying. That's another thing so neat about things here, they usually come to the meeting before agreeing to a Bible study. Once the come and agree to study, they usually end up coming regularly. Amazing! So they had all invited people for yesterday's meeting.

Back to yesterday. We have our bookstudy at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon. So after the morning meeting and lunch we usually study with some before the bookstudy. But yesterday there were so many that came for the whole day that it was just too crazy to try to study. So we all just talked.

After the bookstudy we ordered some food in and ate together. Then played some games and talked some more. I didn't head home until 7pm! And people were still there when I left. I collapsed when I got home, it was long day. But a really awesome day! It's so neat to see all this growth.

We'll probably have another meeting like this in a couple months. There's a couple coming from Canada from an ASL cong. He actually gave the very first talk in sign 2 years ago. I'm sure he'll give another one. There's another couple coming from an ASL cong in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure how long they're staying. But I'm sure he'll give a talk at some point too.

In January we'll start to break away from the Thai cong some. We'll have our own bookstudy and ministry school and then join the Thai cong for the service mtg. We may possibly break away for our own WT soon too. I hope we do, we already take over the study with all the deaf commenting. I think we'd already be having more of our own meetings if we had more brothers. But I guess that's the need everywhere. Anyone want to come and learn Thai sign?

Race Crashers

Just 3 weeks till the half-marathon in Chiang Mai! Today was a 9-mile run. We had a special meeting today (which I will write about later) so I couldn't run in the evening with K. So I had to run in the morning. C (who just got back from Malayisa on Thursday) was willing to wake up at 6 to run the 9 miles with me. Since our run was going to be a long one I thought it would be neat to run all the way to Lumpini Park, go around the park a few times and then head back. As we got to our first major intersection we noticed some runners with numbers pinned to their shirts...it's a race! There were traffic police along the street to make way for the runners. Well, since the sidewalks in Bkk are as dangerous as running in a mine field, I thought we should take advantage of this "street running" opportunity.

Then we realized this meant joining the race...cool! However, EVERYONE was passing us. Well, not just passing us, leaving us in the dust. We had thought our pace was good, but not compared to theirs. They were really cool about it. A lot of them would give us a thumbs up as they passed us. One intersection we passed there were people cheering us on. That's when we decided to stick to the race. We also enjoyed the water station and traffic control. We passed the turn we had originally planned on taking without a second thought.

The funniest part of that whole thing was how people, including the traffic police, responded to seeing us. Even if they didn't give us a thumbs-up or cheer us on, there was always some kind of acknowlegement- a grin, a nod. One group of 4 runners waved for us to join them (we tried to keep up but they ran on ahead). There were a few other foreigners in the race but somehow we must have stood out. Maybe because we didn't have a number pinned on our shirt. haha

The race ended at Lumpini Park. But we were only half finished. So we did a lap at Lumpini Run (where ANOTHER shorter race was going on) before making our way back. Lumpini is a great place on a Sunday morning. There was so much going on. Lots of tai chi and similar group exercises on the grass. Families with kids riding bikes, groups eating together and setting up for karaoke (really!)

So todays 9 miles was fantastic! It was so much fun crashing the race, made the time go by fast. I'm going to check local race calendars more often.

Running + Beer = Sundays

It's official. Sunday is now the official running/beer with K night of the week. We just enjoyed our 3rd Sunday of running together. And since you can count the third study an official study, I'll apply the same concept with running too. :) We're meeting up after our mtgs at Lumpini Park. Following the run we walk to Silom Road for a beer. It's perfect! We were really proud of ourselves yesterday, we ran hard and fast. K was espcially excited because she had a new "uniform" on that made her look "professional". She says the funniest things!

Regarding protesters, I don't know. I'm really surprised the protesters are still at the airport. It's a nervy thing to do to your own country's economy. It's hard to say how long it will go on. Both sides are determined not to use violence but are also determined not to back down. Life continues as normal around my neighborhood. I'll keep you posted.